Liberty entered Saturday night’s game in Winston-Salem, North Carolina against No. 18 Wake Forest as 16.5 point underdogs. The Flames went toe-to-toe with the Demon Deacons and had opportunities to pull off the upset, before falling 37-36.
“I’m proud of the way they fought,” Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze said of his team following the game. “They just showed such resiliency and continued to fight. We are far from perfect, we have so much to work on, which tells me I’ve got to do a better job of coaching. There’s a lot of plays out there, particularly in the first half that we’re not making. I’ve got to coach it better because our kids are playing too dang hard for us to have to fight uphill. Really proud of our kids. Credit to Wake Forest, they are gutsy too. They are a veteran team, top 20 team in the country. We could have easily walked out of here with a win tonight. Really proud of our kids.”
Redshirt-freshman quarterback Kaidon Salter led a Liberty drive in the closing minutes to score a touchdown with just over one minute remaining on the clock to bring the Flames within one point. Head coach Hugh Freeze elected to go for two to try to take the lead, but the conversion failed. Wake would then recover the onside kick and kneel on the ball to run out the clock.
“I planned it before we started that possession. I said if we score, we are going to go for two and try to win it,” Freeze said of his decision to go for two. “I think we were just going to try to win it right there.”
On homecoming, Wake Forest was in control of the game in the first half. A team that hasn’t lost on their home turf since playing No. 1 Clemson in the first game of 2020, the Deacons led by as many as 15 points late in the opening half and had the Liberty offense unable to find any consistent production. Coach Freeze even opted to turn to Johnathan Bennett on two first half drives to try to give the team a spark before returning to Salter.
That would change in the second half, particularly in the third quarter when the Flames dominated the home team. The defense held Wake to just 48 yards and one first down while the Flames outscored them 15-0 to take a 23-20 lead into the final quarter. Touchdown runs of 43 and 44 yards by Salter and Dae Dae Hunter would give Liberty all the momentum heading into the final 15 minutes of action.
“We’ve proven that we are a pretty good second half team,” Freeze said following the game. “Felt like if we could keep it close we would make a run in the second half and that’s what our kids did.”
Liberty could have extended the lead even further in the third quarter. After consecutive three and outs by the potent Wake Forest offense coming out of the halftime break, WFU head coach Dave Clawson elected to go for it on 4th and 1 from their own 34 to avoid a third straight three and out. Liberty defensive end Durrell Johnson batted down the Sam Hartman attempted pass to force the turnover on downs.
Facing a third and long just a few plays later, Salter attempted to break free and run for the first down when he had plenty of open space in front of him, but a WFU defensive lineman was able to trip him up for a loss of one. That forced the Flames to attempt a 53 yard field goal that Nick Brown missed wide right. It was one of two missed field goals for Brown on the night, as he also missed a 54 yard attempt in the first quarter.
The Demon Deacons would tie the game at 23 with a field goal early in the fourth quarter to quell the Liberty run of 18 unanswered points. On the Flames’ ensuing drive, Salter was sacked on 3rd and 12 as he attempted to leave the pocket. He fumbled the ball, Wake picked the ball up and returned it 18 yards to the four yard line. Three plays later, Hartman would find an open receiver in the back of the end zone as the home favorite regained the lead, 30-23, with just over 9 minutes remaining.
Just like the season opener at Southern Miss when he entered the game in the fourth quarter with the team trailing by a touchdown, Salter did not wilt under the late pressure. He engineered a touchdown drive where he was able to find a wide open Demario Douglas at the two-yard line on 4th and 7 from the 38. Douglas would haul in the pass, make a defender miss, and walk into the end zone to tie the score at 30 with 5:50 left to play.
Hartman and Wake responded to retake the lead at 37-30. Salter and the Liberty offense took to the field with 3:36 left on the clock. He would connect with Douglas on two passes for 45 yards to move the Flames to the Wake 24 yard line. The Flames faced a 4th and 4 from the 18 just a few plays later, setting up for a dramatic finish.
Salter would escape the pocket to his left on the 4th down play and toss the ball into the end zone towards Caleb Snead who was heavily covered. It initially appeared as though Wake had intercepted the pass, but Snead was able to knock the ball out of the defenders hands into the waiting arms of Douglas for the touchdown with just over a minute remaining.
With no hesitation, Freeze kept his offense on the field to attempt the would-be go-ahead two-point conversion. On the play, Salter handed the ball to Hunter who began to run around the left side of the line before pitching the ball to CJ Yarbrough on the wide receiver reverse. Coming back to the right, it looked as though Yarbrough was trying to find Salter open for a pass back to the quarterback, but, playing in zone coverage, the Wake Forest defense did not bite on the trickery. Yarbrough would hold onto the ball, attempting to run towards the goal line before he was pushed out of bounds near the four.
“We worked on something that we thought would be good,” Freeze said of the play call. “Credit to them, they had a good call, didn’t play us man there. Hindsight, I wish I called something different or maybe kicked it or tried our luck in the in the overtime.”
Despite losing the turnover battle 4-2 and missing two field goals from over 50 yards, Liberty still had a chance to take the lead in the closing minutes of the game.
Salter finished the game completing 19 of 34 passes for 256 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. He rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown on 15 attempts. For the second time in three games, Salter led Liberty on two touchdown scoring drives in the fourth quarter with his team trailing by seven points.
“He had throws that he should have made differently if you go look at the film,” Freeze said of the young quarterback. “On the last fourth down he should have gone to Demario right off the hitch for the first down, but he does things like that that other people can’t do. I love his competitive spirit, I love his teachable spirit. He makes no excuses. That just makes me want to help him that much more be successful and hopefully we can.”
Demario Douglas, who was one of the best players on Truist Field Saturday night, led the Flames in receiving. He hauled in 7 of 14 targets for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns. Snead added 3 receptions for 59 yards and Yarbrough had 2 catches for 36 yards.
Hawaii transfer Dae Dae Hunter had his best game of his early career at Liberty. The running back rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. He added 5 receptions for 21 yards.
“I love this group. I love this group of coaches and kids. I love their fight, their spirit. Really, really proud,” said Freeze. “Frustrated that it didn’t feel like I did a good enough job to get us the win tonight. That stings. I hate it. I hate that feeling, but I’m proud as heck of these kids.
